A Maryland Thanksgiving

Lolo and Lola were in NY last weekend so they then drove up to us on Sunday and the five of us drove down to Maryland together the day before Thanksgiving. Seeing as we were driving on the busiest highway day of the year, we avoided Route 95 and headed way west into PA.  Traffic was no problem, but we had beautiful snow for a few hours in the mountains.  Luckily it wasn't dangerous.  We took our time and stopped often, landing in Baltimore around dinner time.  Anthony drove by MICA to show off his alma mater to Beatrice and then we went to the inner Harbor where it was freezing cold, but at least the Christmas decorations were up! 

After eating at Bubba Gump's shrimp house, Anthony and Bea stopped briefly at the Ripley's Believe it or Not store.  Here she is with one of the Transformers, something Anthony is working very hard to get her to love:

Thanksgiving morning we cooked and baked and got ready for the big party at Lucy's house that night.  The food was fabulous and after dinner the kids put on a talent show.  Beatrice was up first on piano and did a terrific job:

Big cousin Ted played, with Anthony accompanying, and Bea and Raina were dancing up a storm:

Linden and Raina did a theatrical dance act and Miles tried to join in:

The Dirksen cousins slept over Lolo and Lola's house that night and the next morning, after they thoroughly trashed the house building "tents," we headed out to Watkins park for some fresh air and some photo time.  Here are Lolo and Lola's four grandkids:

They raced out of the car to get to the playground!

Lola and her first-born:

The Nature Center was open so we stopped by and had the whole place to ourselves:

Raina and Linden were very patient with their younger cousin, who grabbed their hand and demanded "play with me!" dozens of times in the 2 days together:

See these two old ladies rocking away by the fire?

Before this holiday, there only existed two photographs of Jaden-Raina-Linden-Beatrice together.  One was when Beatrice was 13 months old, and the other when she was about 2 1/2, so I was bound and determined to get a decent one now that they are 13, almost 11, 8, and 5. I bribed them with Lido's pizza, so they worked extra hard at looking cute!

Later that day we all crammed into Lolo's big truck and drove to cousin Tony's house in Rockville for a leftovers party.  Here's Lola with her two "babies:"

And Lolo with his only grandson:

The kids had a blast with more piano playing, running around, hide-and-seek, yummy food, and finally some playing of this Creationary game, a very big hit:

 We got up early on Saturday to catch a 10 a.m. flight back home.  Beatrice was very sad, as usual, to leave Maryland and to be far away once again from Lolo and Lola and her special cousins. They really got along very well and Raina and Linden are young enough to still get into imaginary play with Bea, and she looks up to them so much.  She adores her Hank and Truman, but she still has a preference for girls, so time with them is a real treat. We hope to see the Dirksens again in-between Christmas and New Year's in NYC. 

We got home in time to squeeze in a visit with cutest-baby-in-the-world Annalena, and had a real treat in helping to give her a bath!

Meanwhile, on Sunday, two sure signs that Christmas is coming happened:  the lights went up on our house.....

and the Holiday Dazzle parade!

The holiday season is in full swing now, and Beatrice's school's annual Christmas show is this Friday.   We've got three weeks of school and fun and busy-ness to get through before Christmas and vacation.  Hopefully everyone will stay healthy as we say goodbye to 2013.

I only hope ALL her "community service" is on a volunteer basis....

you never know with this rascal!

We went to help get the Thanksgiving baskets ready for about 350 families at the local food pantry. Beatrice lasted almost 90 minutes, then started playing tic tac toe with the twist ties, so it was time to go.  But last year was under an hour, so we're making progress!

Our town has many, many very poor families and it feels good to contribute even a little bit to helping them out during this season. We are so very blessed!

Let the Holidays Begin...

 Many months ago we bought tickets to Cirque de Soleil's Holidaze show for dear friend Mary Jane's retirement.  Well, today was show day.  We went to a fabulous lunch at Ceres Bistro in Worcester, then headed to the Hanover theater for the show.  Here's the guest of honor with her biggest fan:

Still cute once in a while:

The show was simply heart-stopping and we were all spellbound by the sights and sounds:

(all pics from internet, not from the actual show today)

Some of the acts and things the performers' bodies did were nail-biters!  (actually this was taken before we left....can't believe my girl has somehow recently "inherited" my long-time childhood habit)

The acts with the girls were of course Bea's faves:

                                                  

and the gingerbread flipping was just incredible!

The best of friends, food, colors, and entertainment all in one afternoon. Doesn't get better than that! It even snowed briefly and the few Christmas lights that are up about town looked magical.

Meanwhile when we got home, our own "Circus soufflé" or "Circus olay" started:

 We didn't hang a rope and hula hoop from the ceiling, but this whirling dervish spun nonetheless!

She wants to do backbends like the superhuman little girl in the show whose body bent like a Gumby doll:

 I know the scenes in her head will appear in her artwork for weeks.  Here's the first segment of the roller skating act:

 Lolo and Lola arrive soon and we're hoping to get the Christmas lights on the house tomorrow.  We are also volunteering at the food pantry in the afternoon, our second year to do so.  It's a big week ahead and I'm starting to settle into this holiday season thing pretty nicely.  Someone else in the house, however, has been scoping the catalogs for weeks now and Santa's list is growing longer each day...

and the last activity of the day, "Daddy Going to Work" (she sometimes divides words with lines), shows Daddy between his car and the shop,  complete with earrings, his messenger bag, his keys, and "a piece of wood so George can make a neck for a new guitar."  My little artist has definitely taken her work up a notch the past few weeks.  She literally can spend hours drawing, and she and Anthony drawing together is one of her favorite things.

Momentous Occasion

Without any suggestion from us, Beatrice mentioned today that she wants to get her very own library card.  We were due for a visit to return old books and pick new ones anyway, so we headed there to strike while the iron was hot.  

She ever so carefully crossed her "t,"

dotted her "i,"

recited her address and phone number, and the deed was done!

There's nothing like your OWN stack of books on your OWN library card!

Independence, control, feeling like a grown up...ahhh, 5 1/2 is beautiful...

                 

(and on another note I found this on the cell phone, taken last week.  She's been begging to do yoga lately so we've snuck in a few sessions at home.  She sticks with it 5-10 minutes and then ditches me, but I do have a feeling she's going to love this activity someday....the "downward dog" in the background gave me a chuckle.)